10/14/2009

Travis and Cameron have been doing alot of this Cyclofit ®. They have told me this is their propeitary workout plan for cyclocross, and that everytime you use the "word" you owe them a dollar. So Ethos racing now is indebted to them a total of $2.

Despite the sillyness of this claim, the workout plan certainly seems to be working. Team Ethos has been doing quite well at the local cross races. Check out Garet's blog for some of his latest race reports, as well as the sick photo of him boosting over the only surviving dinosaur in the Midwest. Travis has been wreaking havoc with his new Ridley, bringing home 3rd place in the Boss Cross Cat 3/4 race two weeks ago. The rest of us have been putting forth our best Ethos efforts and still having a great time.

Friday night Travis, Cameron, Kevin and myself met at All Weather Control HQ, and deployed North to the riverfront park for a brutal workout. We did four 8 minute intervals of follow the leader through the park. It was a blast, and my legs were jelly by the end. We ended by spinning back to my hood to drop me off, then everyone headed back to the rivermarket.

Tomorrow a clown car full of Ethos riders are headed out to Wyandotte County Park for the Boulevard Cup Cross Race. I both assume and hope that the entrance fee includes some free beers before, during or after the race.

9/25/2009

7/01/2009

Last night some Ethos folk headed out to Landahl hoping for dry trail and something different than Swope. We were not disappointed! The trails were immaculate and the 80 degree temperatures made for the an awesome ride. What made it possibly my favorite ride to date was the company. Sean Burns, Travis Donn, Garet Steinmetz and myself left the trail head just after 6:30 and proceeded to sample just about everything Landahl has to offer.

We headed straight down Tasty Goodness to the Lollipop, doing one lap of each direction. Across the creek down to the scout camp, through the 5 foot tall grass up to the 5 way. Burned down Family Trail, dropping in on ScottsGunbarrell ( rocky, loose and fun). Crossed the creek, made the long slog up to the numbers. Rode #10 to little moab then back the last half of #11. The numbers were in excellent shape and did not hold back on the ass whooping they normally deliver. Many of climbs were conquered jogging with bike on shoulder. We blasted back down the hill across the creek and then spun across the flats trying to recharge the legs for the Climb back up Scotts.

We arrived on top with failing light and rode blindly up Family Trail, down Daves Maze and out Wills Wanderer to the double track. Got to the parking lot around 9:10, bummed that we didn't get to ride Rim Job, but thankful for such awesome trail conditions, cool temps and great riding partners. We shared some beers in the parking lot enjoying the beautiful June night before hopping in the cars.

Couldn't have asked for a better midweek ride, lets make this a weekly thing.

5/19/2009

This past Weekend was the first race that "Ethos" competed in. Travis and myself drove all the way down to Oklahoma City to compete in the Sick 6 six hour race. Our friend and OKC local Andy introduced the idea to us. We were joined by Cameron Chambers, he is a local Kansas City hard hitter, who rides for 360 cycling. The event was hosted at the Clear Bay bike trails on Thunderbird Lake. It consisted of a 6.6 mile loop of hills, a few rocks and sandy corners. Travis and Cameron teamed up for the duo, and myself to duke it out solo.

The race promoter warned us of several muddy spots, several downed trees that were marked off because of lack of time to chainsaw all the recent storm damage, and several reroutes to avoid even muddier sections. I think we were all expecting 6 hours of hell trail. After a lemans start the small field of 35 riders piled into the tight single track with very loose sandy corners. The downed trees turned out to be mere twigs and the two muddy sections were pretty short and inconsequential. The loose sandy corners were the only problem, but by the 3rd lap they had been bermed up into buttery smooth tracks. Cameron burst out into an early lead, which him and Travis maintained throughout the race, adding several minutes gap to their closest competitor with each additional lap.

I started my first 2 laps fast then settled into a nice even pace, taking advantage of Cam or Trav at the transition area for water and nutrition help. Andy passed me on the second lap looking strong. Having no idea where I was in the line up, I just stuck to my goal of consistency. On the 8th lap I passed Andy and one other singlespeed rider, which boosted my spirits. Coming in for my 9th and final lap, Travis was anticipating Cameron any minute. I downed some water and hit the trail hard. Within minutes Travis caught up to me and paced me through 2 climbs, till I imploded. After that I fought off cramps for another 4 miles to cross the finish line in 2nd for the Single-Speed division.

Ethos had a great showing taking first in the Cat I 2 person, and 2nd in singlespeed. Getting jersey design finalized via local KC artist Jeremy Collins. Once they are complete, I'll post some pics.